TV veteran Cilla Black has blamed Liverpool's Cavern Club for damaging her hearing.

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The entertainer worked at the music venue as a coat check girl in the 1960s so she could see bands such as The Beatles.

But Black (71) has been forced to have a hearing aid surgically implanted because of the damage to her ears.

She told The Mail on Sunday: "I blame the Cavern. All those years in a place with no proper acoustics, I think it may have done some damage.

"It's no fun getting older. I might be wearing beautiful diamond earrings but they can't take away the pain of losing my hearing.

"I didn't actually realise how bad it had got until I was with a friend in Barbados and I said to her, 'Why are you whispering?' She said, "Cilla, I'm not whispering, it's you who has a hearing problem'.

"It's rock 'n' roll that has done my hearing in. I went to the Cool Britannia party at 10 Downing Street and a well-known rocker came up to me and said something and I said, 'I can't hear you'. He replied, 'I can't hear either'. He pointed out his hearing aid and told me to get one."

Black said she finds it difficult to look back on her life and has been unable to bring herself to watch an ITV drama series that explores her rise to fame in the 1960s.

The three-part series, Cilla, stars Sheridan Smith.

"I've had the films for weeks but I haven't been able to watch," she said.

"It's hard to watch your life unfold, and sad. Life changes. I haven't been in touch with Ringo (Starr) or Paul (McCartney)."

Black was an associate of The Beatles in the early 1960s and scored two number ones in 1964 - Anyone Who Had A Heart and You're My World.